In an article that should’ve been titled “How to Get Away With Being Racist in the New York Times,” one critic has become the talk of Twitter after referring to super successful television producer Shonda Rhimes as—get this—”an angry black woman.”
Alessandra Stanley penned the column as a review of How to Get Away with Murder, a show created by Peter Norwalk that Stanley mistakenly believed was written by Rhimes, the same woman who created Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy, beginning it with:
When Shonda Rhimes writes her autobiography, it should be called “How to Get Away With Being an Angry Black Woman.”
The award-winning Rhimes, who is actually the executive producer of the new legal thriller, took to Twitter to respond to the ill-advised introduction:
Confused why @nytimes critic doesn’t know identity of CREATOR of show she’s reviewing. @petenowa did u know u were “an angry black woman”?
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 19, 2014
Apparently we can be “angry black women” together, because I didn’t know I was one either! @petenowa #LearnSomethingNewEveryday
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 19, 2014
Final thing: (then I am gonna do some yoga): how come I am not “an angry black woman” the many times Meredith (or Addison!) rants? @nytimes
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 19, 2014
Wait. I’m” angry” AND a ROMANCE WRITER?!! I’m going to need to put down the internet and go dance this one out. Because ish is getting real.
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 19, 2014
In that same article, Stanley goes on to say that in casting Viola Davis as the leading lady of HTGAWM, Rhimes ignored the “narrow beauty standards some African-American women are held to” by choosing someone who is “older, darker-skinned and less classically beautiful than Ms. Washington.”
Kerry Washington, who plays Scandal’s Olivia Pope, tweeted in defense of Rhimes, along with other Twitter users who started the hashtag #lessclassicallybeautiful to highlight beautiful black women like Davis:
Dear @nytimes http://t.co/20dzCSLKsx AND http://t.co/VJQ7n0Ujdn You’re welcome. Love, K-Dub
— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) September 19, 2014
Stanley stands by her choice of words, telling Buzzfeed News:
“The whole point of the piece — once you read past the first 140 characters — is to praise Shonda Rhimes for pushing back so successfully on a tiresome but insidious stereotype.”
Oh. OK.
SOURCE: Buzzfeed | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty